The field of the invention relates generally to electric motors, and more specifically, to methods and systems for operating electric motors.
Typical electric motor systems include a motor controller and an electric motor. The motor controller receives power from an alternating current (AC) or direct current (DC) power supply, and applies it to a rectifier and, in some controllers, to capacitors to generate a smoothed direct current (DC) voltage. The motor controller then supplies a chopped DC voltage to the electric motor through an inverter, which uses the power to drive a load.
Many motor and controllers are matched to each other using hardware or software settings to improve performance of the motor. Over time, the motors may need to be replaced and an exact replacement may not be available to replace the original motor. In such cases, the motor characteristics must be identified and the settings of the controller or the hardware in the controller must be manually updated to accommodate the motor characteristics. Measuring the motor characteristics and revising the settings or hardware is time-consuming and may be laborious. Moreover, the possibility of inputting erroneous running parameter settings may cause inefficient operation of the motor.